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The agreement with Egypt, for the purchase of 24 aircraft, he will mark the end of the Rafale’s curse? Too expensive, too sophisticated, unmarketable … Rarely a fighter aircraft in the world has been under fire as fierce criticism. Criticism from, in many cases, their country of origin.
The Rafale even became a recurring joke when was mentioned a likely export contract. It must be said that the six failures suffered in fifteen years abroad (from Singapore to South Korea, via Morocco and the Netherlands) had is cause distrust face of this device designed by Dassault Aviation.
The aircraft besides, very soon after its launch in 1988, was relegated to the rank of major prestigious French programs with advanced technology but no outlet, like the Concorde, the TGV, or nuclear EPR.
It’s not for lack of having received the support of Heads of State succession. Alternately Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Holland thus promotes Rafale, the sale of a fighter being first a political act.
The setbacks have export was all the more bitter at the same time the fighter kept to demonstrate his skills on land conflict, whether in Libya, Mali, Iraq or Afghanistan.
The Rafale is the sixth fighter aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation since the end of World War II. The manufacturer was used to launch a new model every …
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